Chapter 30.1
When the smuggling case was finally settled, Zheng Cunzhi made a call to Yan City to inform Elder Fang.

Not only were the recovered cultural relics of great research value, the quantity was huge. After being displayed in the museum, they were very popular with the public. As such, Elder Fang had recently been in a state of euphoria, to the point where he was so engrossed in the conservation work that he neglected eating and sleeping.

He’d been serving as a cultural relics expert for the National Museum since his retirement a few years prior, but this was the first time he’d witnessed such a big incident. It was said that the antiques were found in several containers that should have been filled with soybeans. If Qunnan’s investigators had gotten there just two hours later, countless priceless treasures belonging to this land would have already been transported across the sea through the established route to F country.

Hearing the good news that the cultural relics were intercepted, the old man who had been concerned about this matter was overjoyed at first, and then became outraged.

{Qi Kai’s courage is getting bigger and bigger,} Zheng Cunzhi said. {I’ve long cautioned Mr. Qi that with Qi Kai’s temperament, he should be kept in check or he would definitely cause big trouble someday!}

Elder Fang, holding the telephone receiver with his shoulder and wearing glasses and gloves, was observing the kiln support marks on the bottom of a long-neck vase through a magnifying glass. At Zheng Cunzhi’s words, he snorted. “Haven’t we all been telling him that? Everyone has been warning old Qi, but he refused to listen. Look at him now, running himself ragged to get his ne’er-do-well grandson out of hot water.”

As Elder Fang spoke, he couldn’t help but recall the antiques recovered from the smuggling empire that Qi Kai helped build. Allegedly, the route it used had first been developed three years ago, and even now the number of people that had taken part in it since was still unknown. As soon as the earthquake started in Qunnan, many arrests were made in various places. Due to the large number of people involved, the police had to set out in nearly full force.

With such a large network, how many things had gone through their hands over the years? The domestic media rarely mentioned it, but in foreign magazines, Elder Fang often saw news such as ‘The Record-Breaking Price of Antiques at Auction in Hong Kong’ and so on. For ordinary people, it sounded exciting, but those with more knowledge on the matter were only filled with regret and an unwillingness to accept this state of affairs.

Sighing, the old man put down the magnifying glass and took the receiver in his hand. “Actually, it wasn’t easy to make this happen.”

{I know you worked really hard to let this case not fall through, Teacher,} Zheng Cunzhi said, well-aware of the ins and outs.

“Before, I was also helpless. We’ve been trying to do this for more than a year, but old man Qi always said that right now, we should relax restrictions on the major coastal cities so as not to make everyone in the business community panic,” Elder Fang grumbled. He recalled the games of Go he played with Elder Qi several times last year, which had ended in discord; he’d thought his opponent was simply too conservative and afraid of miscalculating the situation, but now he knew it was because Qi Kai was involved in such a way.

“If it wasn’t for the donation of bronzeware a few months ago, which heated things up, we would’ve had to watch everything fizzle out yet again.”

Zheng Cunzhi knew this was the reason Elder Fang made a big deal out of the donation. Fortunately, his move was successful, and Qunnan also got rid of a large tumor growing in its side. He smiled and said, his tone relaxing, {You’re right, sir. At first, I was ready for a long-term struggle—I never expected things would turn out this way. By the way, I heard that the boy who donated antiques ranked first in the province in his college entrance examination and has been admitted to Yan University? He’s an outstanding young man.}

“Haha, so you were still paying attention to him. He’s indeed entered the university—he already started his military training, I think. I’ve told Wenhao to take care of him at school.”

{Of course I pay attention to him, as I should.} Zheng Cunzhi sighed, and there seemed to be a hint of envy in his voice. {He likely has no idea how much he contributed, and how big the benefits this contribution will bring him. I can only say that it’s true good deeds get rewarded!”

In response, Elder Fang only smiled.

Yan City, at the military base carrying out the freshmen’s training

Shortly after he finished eating lunch, one of the instructors notified Lin Jingzhe that he received a phone call.

The office was some distance from the canteen. Lin Jingzhe walked there, puzzled over what the call could be about until he put the receiver to his ear.

A soft, gentle female voice asked, {Hello? Is it Jingzhe?}

Bang.

The instructor at the phone desk looked up in surprise. “You’re already done?”

“Yes, it was nothing important.” Lin Jingzhe put his name down in the phone call log book, straightened, and put his military cap on. “Sir, if somebody calls me again, please hang up directly,” he said impassively.

Surprised, the instructor stared at his porcelain-like face, a bit reddish from the sun, and nodded subconsciously.

Lin Jingzhe was a little irritated. Had he known the call was from Jiang Qiaqia, he wouldn’t have bothered to come at all—the heat of midday sun was unbearable, yet he had to brave it again on the way back. Really, what an annoyance.

When Jiang Qiaqia heard the busy tone, she almost collapsed. She couldn’t count how many people she had to ask before getting the number of the office at the military base where the Yan University’s freshmen had their training. However, now that there was no Jiang Xiaoyun to act as intermediary, no matter how unwilling she was, she had no choice but to contact Lin Jingzhe herself.

But even in her wildest dreams, she never imagined that Lin Jingzhe was even more unwilling than her!

This crisis was different from the one about the antiques—this time, she had nothing to fall back on nor any other path to take, so she could only swallow her pride and call again.

But the operator on the other side informed her that the recipient was refusing to take calls.

What to do now? she thought, biting the tip of her thumb in anxiety.

Shen Juanying was true to her word: this month, Jiang Qiaqia received not one penny of child support and had no way to get the money out of her ex-husband. She didn’t know how Lin Jingzhe learned of all the matters he told Lin Runsheng—could it be that her father hardened his heart before his death and spilled it out?!

Jiang Qiaqia was filled with regret—she shouldn’t have bowed to the pressure of Qi Qing’s family and completely cut off relations with her birth family. Despite her painstaking efforts to please her in-laws, it brought her no benefits, and the Qi family was never grateful for any of it.

The “earthquake” in Qunnan Province had a great impact on the business world. Qiqing Real Estate, which had been deteriorating since their relationship with Section Head Wang turned sour, had become increasingly difficult to maintain. His downfall and subsequent confession led to Qi Qing being “interviewed” for a long time. They desperately struggled to stop the news from getting out, but many of their competitors still caught wind of it.

Qiqing Real Estate’s troubles were widely known in the local real estate industry; no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t explain why tax auditors were knocking on their doors every few days. The business owners cooperating with them had lost confidence in them, and the contractors, disregarding their difficulties, nipped at their heels demanding construction fees. However, the project wasn’t even completed! Since the houses hadn’t been sold yet, how could the company cover the construction fee? Unless they borrowed the money.

But the banks in Qunnan said that they were not solvent enough and refused to grant them a loan. It was as if all their troubles had arranged to come to their door at the same time. Qi Qing and Jiang Qiaqia, a couple whose lives had been full of marital bliss since their wedding day, began to quarrel all the time.

In Qi Qing’s view, the root of this misfortune was Jiang Qiaqia and Section Head Wang’s collaboration.

Jiang Qiaqia felt wronged. She had always planned very carefully, taking every conceivable possibility into account, but how could she foresee something like this happening? According to the business’ original growth rate, Qiqing Real Estate had been just about ready to seek Series A financing, which meant that the equity distribution would change. Her goal had always been getting into the company’s core management circle—how could she increase her pull if she didn’t get more bargaining chips?

Qi Qing, however, didn’t understand her difficulties at all. He kept saying he loved her, but his actual actions were not as good as her ex-husband’s, Lin Runsheng. Although Lin Runsheng was an incompetent waste, at least he’d been willing to share everything he owned with her. But Qi Qing?

He and that old harpy, his mother, guarded against her as if warding off an evil spirit!

Since the company’s negative performance growth, Qi Qing stopped her salary with the excuse of her being “family”, and because of Section Head Wang’s matter, Jiang Qiaqia dared not protest. The lack of this source of income had already made her nervous, but now the child support, which recently had been as high as 5,000 yuan a month, was stopping too?! For the first time in her life, she felt panic. To display her strength to her husband and her in-laws, she had been spending a lot of money, and what she managed to save had been invested in the company to try to make up for losses.

Poverty was impossible to conceal, especially in her social class.

Jiang Qiaqia refused to imagine what kind of life could possibly be waiting for her.

On his way back, Lin Jingzhe was caught by Wang Jun and Lu Xiaojiang. His round belly stuck to Lin Jingzhe’s back, Lu Xiaojiang said enviously, “During lunch, my future girlfriend was always looking at you!”

“My future girlfriend too!” Wang Jun screamed.

The military training was nearing the end. After being together for so many days, the group of originally unfamiliar young people got well-acquainted with each other. It was easy for boys to form a friendship—after one or two days, when they found out that contrary to what his first impression suggested, Lin Jingzhe was not cold and unapproachable but farted and was picky about his food like everyone else, they quickly became close.

Pulled and being held onto by these kids, Lin Jingzhe felt his vigilance, raised because of Jiang Qiaqia’s call, rapidly dissipate. He put an arm around Wang Jun’s neck and flung him aside. At the same time, he jumped up and kicked the steel bed frame, making Lu Xiaojiang fall onto the bed, and then sat down on the boy’s stomach.

He slapped the soft belly hard, eliciting a yowl, and said, “Naughty again!”

Laughing, Lu Xiaojiang kicked wildly, trying to get him off. “Where did you learn all these tricks? And how can you be so strong when you’re thin as a stick!”

Wang Jun climbed up from the ground. “Touch his arm, it must be nothing but muscle—he did two hundred push-ups before going to bed yesterday! And after standing for six hours in the sun during the day! Fuck, he’s simply inhuman!”

Lu Xiaojiang pinched Lin Jingzhe’s arm—sure enough, there were hard yet undefined muscles on the deceptively slender limb. Lin Jingzhe shook his paw off and reciprocated in turn.

Lu Xiaojiang’s arm was as thick as three of his, all soft and cold meat, similar to a perfect cooling pillow.

The boy lay compliantly still, letting him pinch to his heart’s content. “If you move more and do push-ups with me every evening, you’ll have much better-looking muscles than me,” Lin Jingzhe exhorted.

In his previous life, he had also been lazy when he was young, but later he started to learn judo because life was too boring. Since then, he never stopped exercising, and his body really became much healthier.

After returning to his youth, many twists and turns kept his attention, leaving him with no spare energy. The military training gave him opportunity to pick up exercising again.

“Forget it—for him, making him exercise is fate worse than death,” Wang Jun said. “Didn’t you see how he screamed he had heat stroke when we were practicing marching the other day?”

Lu Xiaojiang, still not getting up, gave him a thumbs-up. “You sure know me well, buddy.”

Chen Jiankang took a towel out of some cold water, wrung it out, and handed it to Lin Jingzhe with a bashful smile. “Here, to wipe your sweat,” he whispered.

Lin Jingzhe accepted it. “Thank you.”

Wang Jun hadn’t forgotten the topic just now. He clung to Chen Jiankang’s back, put his head on Chen Jiankang’s shoulder, and watched Lin Jingzhe wiping his face. “Some people are killed by flood yet others die because of drought,” he hissed like a resentful old woman.

Young people yearn for love and long for being in a relationship.

…But in fact, very few succeed. Both Wang Jun and Lu Xiaojiang met the girls that caught their interest on the first day of military training. They launched several gentle offensives, considerately bringing them water and teaching them to make the bed according to regulations, but it was all for naught—the goddesses of their hearts grudgingly accepted their help, but had no intentions to accept their pursuit.

However, it wasn’t the same for Lin Jingzhe. Everyone did the same things every day and participated in the same activities, so how come only Lin Jingzhe became a hot topic among the girls? It didn’t make sense!

Chen Jiankang’s innocent and frank reply stabbed Wang Jun straight in the chest: “Maybe it’s because he looks better than you,” he said shyly.

“Ah!!!”

Wang Jun hid his acne-covered face in his hands and ran away, crying.

Lin Jingzhe had also been young and was well aware that boys at this age thought with the lower part of their body. To them, finding a girlfriend may be more important than studying well.

But Lin Jingzhe was different: he had already gone through this phase once. Although he also had fantasies sometimes due to the hormones of this young body, his mind was still clear. Currently, his life was like that of a tumbleweed, and he didn’t have the ability to shoulder any responsibility. At least until his career took off, he would not consider dating as this activity required too much commitment.

This way of thinking could hardly be understood by the boys at his biological age. It was true even for the much more sophisticated Fang Wenhao.